Fumbling Along
by Dragoon-sama
Summary: Karkat is not sleeping, and Kanaya visits her moirail in a rare moment of solitude. Awkward fluff, and a break in the tension.


**Fumbling Along**  
By: Dragoon-sama

* * *

The room was quiet, except for the low hum of the various computer terminals and the staccato sounds of typing. The rattling of keys abruptly cut off as Karkat leaned back in his chair. He was slouched so his head was tipped back against the back of the chair, his arms dangling listlessly at his sides. There was no one here to see him, anyway, the others having abandoned the lab for other parts of the asteroid. Exhaustion made his eyes burn and his head feel weighted, but he paid no attention to the discomfort. Sleeping was a far, far worse alternative.

The sound of the transporter had Karkat snapping open eyes he didn't remember closing, fully prepared to leap to his feet and bitch out the idiot who was inconsiderate enough to sneak up on him (and maybe saw him being not as leaderly as he liked). When he saw who it was, however, he merely slumped further into his chair with a noncommittal grunt. Kanaya smiled wanly, and to Karkat's eyes looked as tired as he felt. Approval filled him, that she hadn't succumbed to the general bullshit that was floating around this place that sleep was a _good_ thing. He scoffed to himself, closing his eyes and grinding the palms of his hands into his eyes. There was no need to yell at the only other sane being on this piece of shit rock.

A chair creaked in protest next to him, and he dragged his hands away from his face to see Kanaya rolling up to the terminal next to his. Tucking her legs underneath her chair, she sat straight and stiff as she stared blankly at the screen, yet made no move for the keyboard or mouse to wake it from sleep mode. With a surreptitious glance to assure himself that the room really _was_ empty, Karkat pulled himself upright. Pushing against the floor, he rolled his chair further over next to her, catching the back of her chair to stop himself from rolling right passed. She glanced over her shoulder at him, an eyebrow raised inquisitively, which he returned with a pointed scowl. Chuckling briefly, she obediently turned back to the monitor.

That was one thing he liked about Kanaya; she didn't spend all her time spewing out record breaking amounts of pissibly idiotic drivel in an effort to drive Karkat to new heights of aggravation.

Hesitating for a moment, Karkat reached out one hand to carefully card it through Kanaya's hair. She didn't move or protest, so he did it again with a little more assurance. Her hair was thick—all troll hair was—but soft against his fingers. Stranger still was the absence of the normal wriggling feeling of discomfort at the thought of touching another troll. Karkat was more reluctant than most to accept physical touch, which made his attempts all at once both awkward and unsettling. With Kanaya, he knew she wasn't expecting anything more, and that made it easier to reach out.

She still wasn't relaxing, however, her shoulders stiff with a lingering tension he didn't like. Scowling to himself, he tugged at her shoulder, firmly forcing her to lean back against the chair. Once she had settled—a little less proper but certainly more comfortable, he assured himself—he returned his hand to her hair. She hummed quietly, the sound weaving in with the buzz of the computers and sending tiny vibrations through his finger tips.

"I am…unsure...how to approach one of the humans," she said softly. He tilted his head forward a bit to see the side of her face, noting she had her eyes closed. There were lines of tension around her eyes, that were slowly smoothing out as he continued to clumsily stroke her hair, careful to avoid the sensitive base of her horns.

He leaned back again, the first stirrings of annoyance hitting him. "Don't waste your time on them," he grunted, then cursed as his more violent motion caused her hair to snarl around his fingers. She made no sound as he more carefully detangled himself. A bit contritely, he separated a bit of hair out, vaguely remembering Feferi doing something similar once. This time he was more successful in suppressing the flash of hurt—anger, he corrected himself. What did he care who spent time with the fish-faced princess, after all. He began twisting the strands together, his face pulling into a frown of concentration as the short strands rebelled and spun flat as soon as he released them.

"I believe it is not as simple as that," Kanaya admonished. "And I wish to explore the fascinating puzzle I was presented. However, my advances have not been…as successful as I would like."

He tried twisting the hair together another way, huffing as he noticed it looked nothing like what he remembered. It was just a knot and tangle, so he worked it out to try something else. How was this something girls liked, if it was so frustratingly impossible to figure out? "That's because humans are enormous fucking _shitheads_ who don't wouldn't know blackrom from a sickle to the back of the head. They don't even know how to pity properly! Always going on about 'love' bullshit, and their stupid human sexuality issues." He bit back the next bit of emotionally charged anger, aware he was getting too specific in his complaints of all things pale and fleshy. He was supposed to be helping Kanaya, or more to the point, dissuading her from getting any deeper involved with the stupid aliens. Past Karkat was an idiot to have thought trolling them was a good idea.

Kanaya was nodding slightly, stilling when he grunted in protest as her hair slipped from his hands at the motion. He'd almost had it, he was sure. "Perhaps a different approach would be in order. I do not believe that our cultures are as incompatible as you would believe, Karkat," she said thoughtfully. Letting out a hiss of air between his teeth, Karkat bit back another protest. Deep down, he knew she was right, but it rankled to know that he'd probably messed things up because of _cultural misunderstandings_.

A loud snapping buzz cut through the quiet, and Karkat had already pushed his chair violently backward before the first Troll had fully materialized in the transporter. The wheels caught and choked, sending Karkat tumbling out of the chair with a yell. He sprawled at the feet wearing familiar black and white sneakers, and didn't bother toning down the ferocity of his glare as he stared up into those stupid red and blue glasses. "FUCKING FUCKASS! What the hell are you doing sneaking in like that?!"

Sollux smirked down at him, unbothered at his friend's anger. Behind him, the transporter flared again as Feferi stepped through. "Heh heh heh… Give me a break, KK," Sollux said, toeing Karkat's shoulder with his black shoe. Karkat flailed at it as he tried to untangle his legs from his chair, still swearing at the injustice of being caught out so embarrassingly. "It'th not like I can ring a bell or anything," the Gemini continued negligently. Feferi cast a worried look between Karkat and Sollux, before shuffling over to Kanaya's side, clearly unwilling to get between Karkat and the current target of his ire.

"Then fucking don't leave next time, if you're just coming back. Or even better, JUST DON'T COME BACK!" Karkat snarled, finally succeeding in kicking the chair out from under him. He blinked as a hand was thrust in his face, and contemplated biting just to show Sollux that _yes_ he was pissed off and _no_ that didn't help anything. Across the room, he heard Kanaya speak up.

"Feferi, could I impose upon you for a hair tie? I seem not to have any to hand."

"Sure!" Feferi bubbled. "But do you want me to re-do that braid? It's kind of messy."

"No, I think it is perfect."

"I'm not going to thand here all day," Sollux griped, drawing Karkat's attention back to him. Scowling, Karkat accepted the hand and was hauled back to his feet in short order. It was only because he had things to do, after all. Maybe he would find another spot in that stupid, derpy, frustratingly dense alien's timeline and straighten him out once and for all about how much of an idiot he was. Glancing over, he could see a small, green ribbon in Kanaya's hair, her attention on her computer screen where purple text was scrolling by. Yeah, bugging Egbert sounded like a good idea. Past Karkat was just an idiot for doubting his Further Past Self.

* * *

**A/N:** Written for a prompt on homesmut, though decidedly lacking in the smut department. Moirail fluff, of sorts.


End file.
